Concentrating on an intricate radiating motif as a link between her Japanese culture and image of self, artist Mami Yamanaka has drawn on her experience as an immigrant to create works of extraordinary beauty and complexity. Awarded the Siemen’s Art Grant in 2003, Yamanaka’s artwork is now in private & corporate collections in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

This motif represents many aspects of my inner and outer self, becoming a metaphorical self-portrait. My direct abstraction method of simplifying nature shapes into a flat image/motif relates to Japanese traditional decorative motifs and Japan’s long history of ornamentation of objects. There are also subtle visual and procedural similarities with the traditional motifs and patterns of other cultures. I am interested in the shapes of trees and bird wings and butterflies which for me represent concepts of migration. Placing those cut-out images and my motifs together, I am hoping to express my personal/internal journey through my experience of relocation.I used similar images which invoke my memory as a silhouette and covered them with my motifs in the paintings. I am interested in creating a very flat surface of the painting with the subtle colour, to create the impression of fragment of memories.